It is already known from the prior art to use a knit as a looped element. In order to secure the knit to its support it is necessary to execute numerous steps which are long and tedious and which require a great deal of precision so as to not adhere the loops to the support and to destroy their ability to engage. This does not facilitate large-scale production in a domain where this is, however, particularly sought, namely that of disposable diapers.
This is why the principle has been developed consisting of replacing the looped knit with a looped non-woven fabric.
However, a number of criteria are sought for this non-woven fabric, namely it is desirable for the hooks to be able to engage here easily and in particular to give the user the impression that they engage easily and provide high-performance and/or satisfactory engagement in the eyes of the user, at the same time, however, ensuring good visibility of the design (which can be seen by the user through the loop element), as well as a soft and pleasant touch quality. Finally, it is desirable to reduce as far as possible the weight of the landing zone in view of reducing the cost of the product and of limiting its impact upon the environment after it has been used.
However, reducing the weight of the landing zone involves in particular the non-woven fabric with loops having to be fairly lightweight, and this is beneficial in terms of being able to see through it. However, these two criteria are by all means met, but then mean that the number of loops, and in particular the number of potential engagements, is reduced such that resistance to opening by peeling away is less good, and in particular the appreciation felt by the user as regards the quality of engagement is less good.
Also known from US 2004/0178544 is a composite comprising an elastic polymeric structure that is welded in a previous step to a non-woven fabric in a trellis welding pattern. This composite is intended to be used in diapers in order to form an elastic connection between the legs with hooks and the diaper, the hooks, for sealing the diaper, engaging with a looped element disposed on the front part of the belt of the diaper, the elastic composite providing the elastic hold of the closure of the diaper achieved by the action of the hooks in the looped element, the latter being distinct from the elastic composite. In order to provide the composite with elasticity, after welding the non-woven fabric to the polymeric structure the composite is stretched in a direction parallel to the plane of the structure, the effect of which is to unsolder the non-woven fabric from the polymeric structure along the weld beads parallel to the direction of stretching so that a final welded composite is obtained only along the beads of the trellis perpendicular to the direction of stretching (with a constant welding thickness, the weld at the intersections with the horizontal beads unsoldered by the stretching having been partially unsoldered from their part corresponding to the unsoldered weld beads parallel to the direction of stretching), and so this provides the composite with elasticity in the direction of stretching.
Also known from EP 0800808 is a diaper that has a self-fastening hook and loop closure, the looped element (landing zone) being disposed on the front part of the diaper on the belt and legs with hooks emanating from the edges of the rear part of the diaper in order to engage in the looped element in order to seal the diaper. The non-woven fabric with loops comprises a mixture of two types of fiber. The fibers of the first type are joined strongly to one another. The fibers of the second type are joined to one another just as strongly. The fibers of both types are joined weakly to one another. The network of fibers of the first type forming the looped element is joined to the network of fibers of the second type by the weld points that have low, but therefore constant, strength and vice versa.